I've only read one of these and loved it, which makes this the perfect list on the grounds that, if you liked Bleak House, there's a good chance of me liking the rest of them. Thank you!
Phillip Larkin in The Pleasure Principle, quoting Samuel Butler:
"I should like to like Schumann's music better than I do; I dare say I could make myself like it better if I tried; but I do not like having to try to make myself like things; I like things that make me like them at once and no trying at all (Notebooks, 1919).
Have you read The Go-Between? Very similar vibe to the way you describe a Month in the country and both published in the US by New York Review Books, literally a lost classics reprint (with many excellent new translations and originals as well) house.
I feel quite excited that you included 'A Month in the Country', which I think poet Matt Merritt introduced me to many years ago. A wonderful book.
I can't believe I didn't read it sooner!
A Month in the Country is one of my favourite books - I reread it every summer.
I've only read one of these and loved it, which makes this the perfect list on the grounds that, if you liked Bleak House, there's a good chance of me liking the rest of them. Thank you!
Thanks Tony - I hope that's true but you can never tell with books. They're all different!
Phillip Larkin in The Pleasure Principle, quoting Samuel Butler:
"I should like to like Schumann's music better than I do; I dare say I could make myself like it better if I tried; but I do not like having to try to make myself like things; I like things that make me like them at once and no trying at all (Notebooks, 1919).
Thank you for the excellent list, some of these sound great, and were unknown to me.
Have you read The Go-Between? Very similar vibe to the way you describe a Month in the country and both published in the US by New York Review Books, literally a lost classics reprint (with many excellent new translations and originals as well) house.